Chapter 878 — The Formless

Standing before Luoyan Augustus were the president of the Royal Mage Association, the legendary mage Windsor Maple, and the master of arcanotechnology Daniel, who had by now become president of the Imperial Society of Engineering and Arcana.

They were the finest scholars and technical talents in the Empire, the royal family's most trusted advisors in the arcane and industrial domains, and Luoyan Augustus's own right and left hands.

Few within the Empire knew that the Courage had departed from Mobius Port. That ship was the crowning achievement of Typhon's most advanced technology, and word of it was naturally kept under seal; but those who could stand in this room were plainly not bound by confidentiality edicts. After hearing Luoyan's words, Windsor was the first to smile. "That is indeed good news."

Daniel asked, somewhat curious: "Is the Courage still at Thassos Island for now?"

"Still at Thassos Island, but it will sail for home today," Luoyan said unhurriedly. He knew what Daniel was curious about. "The news came back by magical transmission—Mobius Port has the most powerful transmission tower on the eastern coast, and aboard that ship... is installed a small transmission array personally improved by Lady Windsor Maple."

Daniel paused a moment, then turned a placid gaze on Windsor Maple and gave a nod with the same cold expression as ever. "A fine result."

"Thank you for the praise," Windsor said at once. "It is only some modification of traditional spells, hardly a groundbreaking creation."

"But an effective modification all the same," said Luoyan Augustus. "Facts have proven that the Sleepers' technology in communications is extremely useful. The distance between Thassos Island and Mobius Port is no short stretch, and the old-style transmission towers could never manage communication at such range. It is only that the improved transmission array is not yet very stable—the Courage reached Thassos Island days ago, but communications have been continually disrupted by the ocean's mana environment, and only today did the message come through."

"That is what we must solve in the next stage," Windsor Maple said immediately. "We have not had the Sleepers' technology for long, and our improvement of transmission spells has only just begun. Often we have simply applied their ideas in a crude and direct way to our own transmission techniques—there is still great room for optimization. In the future, whether in effectiveness or in cost, our communications technology will certainly improve a great deal more."

Luoyan Augustus glanced at the legendary mage and smiled faintly. "I have always trusted your abilities, madam."

……

The corridor from the Obsidian Palace to the Royal Library was long, requiring several hundred paces, and it had always been quiet.

Only a few were entitled to walk here.

Daniel and Windsor Maple walked down that long corridor, Royal Guards visible only here and there along either side. The two mages' footsteps were both light, which made the empty corridor seem all the colder and more silent.

Windsor Maple was the first to break the silence. Turning her head slightly, she looked at the former mentor walking beside her. "Master, I still remember the first time you brought me down this corridor—I had just broken through to the high rank then, and you said that to reach the Royal Library by this corridor was a great honor for a mage..."

Daniel's expression did not change; he answered only mildly: "A few years after that, you were entitled to move freely through this quarter as a legendary mage."

Windsor Maple spoke instinctively: "Master, I..."

"No, I am not reproaching you," Daniel said, his steps pausing slightly. He glanced at the former apprentice beside him, and in his eyes there was only calm. "I am merely saying that your talent is truly excellent. That talent belongs to you, and we should both accept that fact."

Looking at her mentor's calm gaze, Windsor suddenly felt, for no clear reason, that her own heart grew calmer too.

She had not seen her mentor look so calm in many years.

What had her mentor been like over the past years? Resistant, impatient, dejected, furious, hysterical... Ever since he had failed, years ago, in an attempt to break through the limits of his talent by certain dreadful methods, that once gentle and wise old man had seemed to become another person, drifting further and further from her, until at last he had voluntarily left the Royal Mage Association and chosen to live in seclusion in some place seldom trodden by human feet. And when, after many years, the old man returned to the imperial capital, his manner toward her remained cold and distant—there was no sign that the estrangement of years would thaw, and Windsor Maple had even come to feel that this rift would never be closed.

The once intimate master and apprentice had become strangers.

Yet His Majesty the Emperor's series of plans had forced this estranged pair back together—whether they wished it or not, as the two most outstanding talents in the nation, they were bound to meet here often, to work side by side, to converse and argue and aid one another through their contact in the fields of technology and knowledge.

"In truth, I am glad of the chance," Windsor Maple said with a small smile, and a note of feeling in her voice. "His Majesty's task has brought us both back onto the 'right track.' I think you have proven what you wished to prove many years ago—that human talent is by no means limited to supernatural power alone, and that your talent in the field of arcanotechnology is also of 'legendary' caliber."

In Windsor Maple's view, Daniel's present calm must surely have everything to do with the advance of arcanotechnology—this stubborn old man had proven himself in a new field, and that "proof" was enough to undo the knot in his heart; and once the knot was undone, that kindly mentor would gradually return.

Daniel only looked at Windsor quietly.

She was a powerful legendary mage, extraordinarily gifted, of transcendent standing—but that did not mean she possessed any gift for reading human hearts.

Perhaps that was for the best.

"There is no need to flatter me; you know I dislike flattery," Daniel said with a shake of his head, his tone mild. "In fact, those with talent in magic are usually no less gifted in arcanotechnology—mathematics and magic are in many respects one and the same. Your improvements to transmission spells prove your ability in this field; to grasp the Sleepers' technology in so short a time is no feat for an ordinary person either."

"Thank you for the praise," Windsor said with a smile, but then her brow furrowed and she spoke earnestly. "Yet I have met with no small difficulty as well... The Sleepers' runic system was born of divine arts, and there is a problem of energy conflict between transmission spells and divine arts. At present I am attempting to drive both sets of runes with pure arcane magic, and this makes the whole system extremely unstable, highly prone to backflow and meltdown... I imagine the Cecil people must have overcome this obstacle, since they boldly apply the Sleepers' runes to those 'Magic Net terminals.' Recently I have been searching the samples of Magic Net terminals for that crucial conversion structure..."

She described in earnest detail the problems she faced in confronting wholly new knowledge, just as she had discussed difficult questions with her mentor when she was an apprentice years ago. But she soon noticed that Daniel was not responding; the old man merely stood quietly beside her, watching her with an oddly calm gaze. She could not help but feel puzzled. "Master?"

"I am listening, but I have no good advice either," Daniel said slowly, shaking his head, his eyes still resting on Windsor Maple. Then he fell briefly silent for two seconds before speaking softly, like a sigh. "You are indeed very gifted..."